A black church group has called on MSNBC to suspend one of its lead anchors over reports he received $500,000 in undisclosed donations from Kamala Harris’ campaign.
Host Al Sharpton interviewed Ms Harris twice in October on his show PoliticsNation in the lead up to election day.
FEC filings later revealed her campaign had made two donations of $250,000 each to the presenter’s non-profit National Action Network, with the network admitting last week that it was “unaware” of the payments.
The National Black Church Initiative, which represents 150,000 black churches across the country, has said that the payment to Mr Sharpton’s group “puts a moral stain on the integrity of the black Church”.
As well as being a television host, Mr Sharpton is a baptist minister and civil rights activist.
The group, which claims to represent 27.7 million churchgoers across the country, said it was “very concerned” by the “growing scandal” and urged MSNBC to “launch an investigation”. It also called for “Rev Sharpton’s suspension until the investigation is complete”.
‘Significant ethics concerns’
The Rev Anthony Evans, the church group’s president, told The Washington Free Beacon that Mr Sharpton was “loved and admired by many in our coalition”, but added: “That does [not] take away from the fact he is facing significant moral and journalism ethics [concerns] regarding this payment or donation to the National Action Network.”
“In addition, Rev Sharpton is a minister of the Gospel. This payment does not look good for a man supposed to represent integrity,” he said.
Mr Sharpton is a vocal Democrat supporter who spoke at the party’s national convention in August, but one of the presenter’s MSNBC colleagues told Fox News that the six-figure transaction his group received from the Harris campaign is a “bridge too far”.
Mr Sharpton with Kamala Harris at a church service in 2023. He is a long-time supporter of the Democrats – Andrew Nelles-Pool/Getty Images
The $250,000 donations to National Action Network, which Mr Sharpton founded in 1991, were made on Sept 5 and Oct 1, shortly before MSNBC aired the presenter’s interviews with Ms Harris on Oct 3 and Oct 20.
Mr Sharpton has a history of financial troubles, having pleaded guilty in 1993 to not filing his 1986 tax return in exchange for having two felony charges dropped.
In 2008, reports claimed the television host owed nearly $1.5 million in back taxes. Meanwhile, the New York Times reported in 2014 that records showed more than $4.5 million in current state and federal tax liens against him and his for-profit businesses.
Mr Sharpton told the outlet the outstanding balance was much lower than records showed.
It comes as MSNBC has been hit by a double header of scandals over payments and political bias, after it emerged that Rachel Maddow, one of its lead presenters, had renewed her contract for $25 million a year.
The network’s future remains uncertain after its parent company, Comcast, recently revealed plans to spin off the channel.
Elon Musk, who labelled the network “utter scum on earth” after it spliced together footage of a Nazi rally and a Trump campaign event, floated the possibility of buying it.
“How much does it cost?” he asked, in response to a post about the network’s potential sale.
MSNBC was approached for comment.
